All forms of matter are only different manifestations of the beginning, which is called ether - the most refined and rarefied state of matter. The apparent difference between matter and ether depends only on the speed of vibrations.

We mention this to once again emphasize the fact of the unity of matter. We must understand that each atom of our physical body is only a particle of the great world principle. It is only borrowed by us from the great world reserve and immediately returns to it again since the atoms of the body are constantly changing. What seems to us to be our flesh - a few days ago could be part of a plant, and in a few days, it may become part of some other living creature. There is a continuous exchange of matter between all bodies and matter, which is part of one body today, could be in another yesterday, and tomorrow it may be in a third.

Not a single atom of matter belongs to you personally but is included in the general stock. The same eternal stream flows through you and through all living things. The same is the case with the vital energy that you use at all times of your life. You constantly take it from the great world reserve and transform this energy into one or another kind you need, but this energy is common property, and all you can do is use it when you need it and then let it go further. There is one force, one energy and it is everywhere and always.

And even the great principle, the substance of the mind, is subject to the same principle. It is difficult for us to understand this since we are inclined to consider our mental operations as our own, belonging to us personally, and not as a mental substance of the world principle, the same as matter or energy, and that we only draw all mental operations from the world supply. Moreover, that part of the mental substance that we use, although it is separate from the mental substance that is in the use of others, as a thin partition of the finest substance, in reality, comes into contact with other seemingly separate minds, as well as with the world mind, part of which it makes up. It turns out such a picture, as if the “I” moves through the great oceans of matter, energy, and mind, taking from the material immediately surrounding him only what he needs and leaves everything else behind as it moves. This is a rather crude example, but it can help your consciousness to understand that “I” is the only thing that is really yours and which at the same time is unchanging, and everything else belongs to the world supply, from where you get what you need at the moment. This is the great idea of the unity of things, which will help you see things not as separate, but as components of one Whole. Remember that you, your “I” are the only real and permanent thing in you and around you, and everything else - matter, force, and even mind - are only meant for expressing “I”.

The entire universe is alive, vibrating and pulsating in all manifestations of life, energy and movement. There is nothing dead in the universe, life is everywhere and it is always accompanied by consciousness. There is nothing dead and unconscious in the universe, and we are not at all living atoms thrown into the dead sea, but rather living atoms surrounded by a living ocean, pulsating, moving, thinking, and living. Each atom, which we call dead matter, is actually alive, there is power and energy in it, and every energy and force, no matter how weak, is accompanied by the manifestation of consciousness and life. If we look around us, everywhere, we will see that everything is alive and conscious in the animal, vegetable, and even mineral kingdom-life, life, and life again. When will we be able to translate this idea into the realm of our actual consciousness, i.e., into the realm of our own consciousness? When we are able not only to accept this fact intellectually, but to go further, to feel and become aware of all this life around us, then we will step on the real path to achieving cosmic consciousness.

For a person, these are only gradual steps along the steps leading to an experienced knowledge of the unity of the spirit and clarification of the fact of unity in the manifestations of the spirit, when he begins to see the entire universe in the form of one act of the Absolute, and not in the form of a series of different acts. Each “I” is the center of consciousness in this great ocean of spirit. Each “I” is a real entity, apparently, separate from others and from its source, but this separation in both cases is only apparent, because, as all, “I” of the universe are closely related to one another, in the same way they are connected with the Absolute.

Over time, a clearer consciousness of this mutual kinship will begin to grow in us, and the shells that we will outgrow will gradually be thrown away, and in the end, we will enter the Absolute - returning to the house of our Father.

It is extremely important for the developing soul to reach the living consciousness of this kinship and unity because when this concept is fully established, the soul rises above the known planes and frees itself from the action of the known laws that bind the undeveloped soul. Therefore, the Caucasian sages constantly led their students to this goal, first in one way, then in another, creating an opportunity for them to look at the subject from different angles. When finally, the disciple found himself on a path that was more suitable for him, this path he went straight to the goal.

Throwing away the former heavy shackles, a person lets out a cry of joy, feeling the newfound freedom. In the next chapter, we will tell you about mental exercises, the purpose of which is to help the student in his quest to achieve a living, immediate awareness of his close relationship to the Whole of life and being.

To be continued...